In the Bhagavad-gita what is the significance of the word Bhagavan?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you. So from the Bhagavad Gita’s perspective, what is the significance of the word Bhagavan? The word Bhagavan comes in the Bhagavad Gita consistently whenever it is referring to its speaker Krishna.
So Sri Bhagavan Vacha this starts with the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita when Krishna speaks for the first time and from 2.2 to 2.3 Krishna speaks and then thereafter again from 2.10 onwards Krishna is 2.11 onwards Krishna is consistently speaking. He speaks the majority of the verses of the Bhagavad Gita and in the Mahabharata whenever there are conversations it is often referred to as Krishna speaks or Arjuna speaks or Karna speaks, whoever is speaking but specifically in the Bhagavad Gita the word Sri Bhagavan Vacha is used. So Krishna is addressed not just by his name but by his position.
The word Bhagavan refers to Bhagavan. Bhag is wealth or opulence one who possesses extraordinary things one is possessed so Bhagavan means one who possesses various opulences so technically the word Bhagavan refers to God because God possesses all attractive qualities so the attractive qualities can be listed as many but they can be classified into six main categories there is beauty, there is wealth there is strength, there is fame there is knowledge and there is renunciation so the person who embodies all these qualities in their fullest manifestation that person is God and that person is worthy of being called Bhagavan in this technical sense of the word. So by using the word Bhagavan to refer to the speaker of the Gita the Gita is stressing that the knowledge that is coming from this person is not ordinary so for example when the Prime Minister of India gives an address or the President of America gives the State of Union address, at that time it is not usually said that we don’t use the name of the person, proper noun, we use the title, the President spoke this so when the position often brings a certain level of authority to certain statements and when God himself speaks, that brings absolute authority and that indicates that this knowledge is universally relevant it is timeless knowledge which talks about principles that will speak to the human heart and head in all situations in all times and in all places and that universality and authority of the Gita’s message is stressed by the use of the word Bhagavan Thank you